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Microfossils are the smallest fossils (hence their name!). They occur when the microscopic components of an animal, fungi or plant are preserved in their base material rather than an entire organism. As their whole, they are just as valuable in determining the age and environmental characteristics of fossil sites. Since they are so small, however, the most common way to extract and analyse them is by using a compatible acid - dissolving rock and leaving the fossil intact.
In some cases, though, this method does not work. If the rock matrix and the fossils are too compositionally similar, for instance, the choice of acid is likely to degrade the fossil or reduce its quality. Djokic and others (2023) found themselves with this problem when analysing new microfossils from McGrath’s Flat near Gulgong in the Central Tablelands (NSW). The alternative method was to image and visually inspect the specimens.
Analysing images of microfossils is an incredibly time and resource-consuming feat. A professional scientist usually needs around 6 hours to locate and image 50 microfossils, not including analysis or identification. 250 citizen scientists were able to use images hosted by Atlas of Living Australia’s online volunteering platform DigiVol to analyse 25,000+ images at three times this pace!
